I've never worked with a pellet grill so can't speak to that piece. What I do know is that I can run my Joe up to 750 - 800 degrees if needed. I rarely do. I will sear both sides of our steaks over the open fire at 650 or so then move them to indirect heat (Joe's come with heat deflectors, believe BGEs do too) and finish there until they're a perfect medium rare. Wife and I don't go out for steaks any longer because they're never as good as I can make at home with prime cuts from Costco and my egg. Only exception is the chateaubriand at Perry's, lol. I didn't have any difficulty picking up the nuances of my egg when I started using it. I had the classic size then sold it and bought the Jr and Big Joe. I smoked a brisket for 18 hours a couple of weeks ago on the Big Joe. Stabilized the temp at 225 at about 9pm the night before. It was still at 225 when I woke up at 7am the next morning. Stayed at 225 until I pulled the brisket off at 3pm that afternoon. Never had to touch it.
You will get a metric shit-ton of varying opinions on this subject. I’ll start it by saying that I have 2 Kamado Joe’s, a Joe Jr and a Big Joe. I absolutely love both of them and have moved completely away from my gas grill for everything. I fire up Jr for burgers, dogs, hot links, everyday stuff. And I can’t imahine not having the Big Joe for all my smoking cooks. I can get a full packet brisket from Costco on it and have room for ribs, chicken, sides, whatever else I want to smoke at the same time. I know a lot of guys like true offset smokers or pellet grills/smokers but I’ll take the egg type every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Can’t go wrong with one of those.
Got back Friday night from a week of vacation in Destin with the family. Went completely off the rails. Pizza, ice cream, Oreos, pretty much just ate like I used to. Stepped on the scale yesterday morning. 199.7. Gained 5.4 pounds over the week. Man does it come back on fast. When I broke sub-200 a couple of weeks ago I told myself I never wanted to see a number that started with a 2 again. Got WAY too close for comfort. Back on the wagon yesterday. Wife and I leave for an adult vacation in Aruba 4 weeks from today. My original goal was to be at 195 before we left for Destin last week and 185 before we leave for Aruba. That means losing 15 pounds in the next 4 weeks. Not sure that's entirely realistic. Definitely think I can get to sub-190 though. 2.5 pounds a week seems doable.
No doubt about it pearland. Between the crockpot and the instapot, we use those the nights I don't grill on my kamado joe. Pretty amazing what you can whip up in those. And damn tasty!
Corkscrew is our go to. When I'm not traveling for business I office out of the house. Once a week, I'll head over to Corkscrew, get there about 10:30 or so and grab a number. Wife will head over from her office to meet me at 11:15 after I've ordered. Always phenomenal. One of the only joints I've ever frequented often that has not had a single miss in all the times I've been there. If you haven't had it, you're doing yourself a disservice. Find a way.
^^^^This.
As of this morning I'm down to 194.9. Made my goal of being at 195 by Saturday when we leave for Destin. I'll take that in a heartbeat. Onward and, well, downward, lol. Everyone keep it up. Y'all are doing awesome!
Orange, right there with you on being in the late 40s. I don't plan on having to do this again. Played baseball in college and stayed in the 180s all the way until my mid 30s. Let myself go a bit and got up too 230 before I took a promotion to Tokyo and lived there for three years. Between walking everywhere and eating better, I was back down to 200 in 2010 when we moved back to the states. Somehow between 2010 and last year I let myself get all the way back up to 230. Man it happens gradually if you aren't paying attention. Was back down to 205 pre-Harvey. I'm getting off the roller coaster. Not going to let myself gain it back this time. I never want to see a 2 as the first number on the scale again. When I get to 180 by the end of the summer or early fall, I'm going to work on staying there. Owe it to my wife and kiddos, much less myself, to stay in shape so I can enjoy life with them from here on out!
Haven't posted since my first post in this thread probably 8 weeks ago. But have followed the thread pretty regularly. LonghornAl and Pearlhorn, keep it up and keep posting. Really enjoy following your journeys. Keep posting and we'll keep reading! As for me, I think when I posted last, I'd gotten back up to 221 in the months after Harvey fucked everything up. Decided it was time to start doing something about it. Ended up being a couple of more weeks before I actually did start working on it. So on May 14, my wife and I started pretty strict Keto and IF. As of this morning I'm down to 196. Down 25 pounds and 4 inches in the waist in the past 6 weeks. Broke the 200 mark early last week sometime. It's the first time I've been sub-200 in probably 20 years. Gotta admit, I thought it would be harder to stick to Keto than it has been. I've never been a big breakfast person so IF was a no brainer and has been easy for me to stick to. Original goal was to be down to 195 by this coming Saturday when we leave for a week on the beach in Destin. Looks like I'm going to hit that. Next goal is to get down to 185 by Aug 4 when we leave for a week on the beach in Aruba. That's another 11 pounds in the next 5 weeks. I should be able to do that as long as I don't take too much of a step back next week in Destin. I don't plan on being quite as strict while on vacation with the kiddos next week but I don't want to go completely off the rails. I'm hoping to simply not gain anything next week then get back to strict Keto when we get back.
Great job everyone and stay with it.
I do kind of what Champ said up thread. If I had to pick one it’s probably closer to volume. It’s more of an eyeball test for me than precise. By weight it’s probably closer to 3:1, maybe a bit higher? After messing around with lots of briskets the last couple of years I just dialed it in. Had been sea salt/course ground black peppercorns only until this last cook this weekend when I added the cayenne back in. Really took it over the top for me and the neighborhood crew I cook for. But we also all like spicy food. Cayenne didn’t make it spicy in the traditional way but definitely kicked up the flavor and love what it did to the bark.
I am all over this with Champ. Rub I did over the weekend was 1:5:0.5 salt/pepper/cayenne. Came out phenomenal. First time I've added cayenne to it. Really like what it did to the flavor along with the smoke of the mesquite. That's definitely going to stay as my go to brisket rub.
Haven't seen the Snake River Farms briskets at the Costco in The Woodlands yet. Will have to keep an eye out for them. Smoked a regular prime from there Friday night overnight. 16 hours smooth as silk on my Kamado Joe. Went to bed at 11pm Friday night with it sitting at 225, woke up at 8am Sat morning with it still sitting at 225. Damn near perfection when we cut into it Saturday afternoon. Going to jinx myself but the last 5 or 6 I've done have come out spot on. Threw a couple of racks of spare ribs on for the last 5 hours of the smoke and those came out fantastic too. Will have to remember to take pics for this thread next time I do one.
Just got home from taking my daughter to the pediatrician and flipped it on. Looks like more benign conditions than yesterday and a few more birdies available on the course. Interested in seeing what the rest of the afternoon has in store, particularly whether any of Jordan, Phil or Rory among others can turn it around and make it to the weekend.
Holy hell on McDowell's bunker shot hitting the stick and ricocheting right back to him in the bunker. What a ridiculous break. Great reaction of him just laughing at it.
Certainly not his best hole ever, but lots of doubles and triples on lots of cards today. Not a tournament killer. Short memory and move to the next hole.
Just got back from taking my daughter to the orthodontist. Fire the DVR back up and see Tiger triple #1 after splitting the fairway with his tee shot. Alrighty then. About an hour and a half behind live broadcast. Should be interesting catching up.